Wednesday, 30 March 2011

Text of Jack Layton's business tax cut announcementThe NDP plan to give small business a break to help create and retain jobs (small businesses create almost half the new jobs in Canada). They also plan to restore corporate tax rates back to the 2008 level, which are still very competitive and lower than the current rates in the USA.

Restoring corporate tax rates will save the government billions of dollars - freeing up money to reduce the deficit and to pay for more useful things for Canadians.

Doug Ford rips the Star - thestar.comWhen Stephen Harper became Prime Minister he quickly took steps to control the Media, to control who could ask questions and what type of questions and what access they had.Today, Doug Ford, the Mayor of Toronto's brother, is suggesting they start to put similar controls on the Media in Toronto regarding access at City Hall.

In Stephen Harper's case we know that his actions to control the Media were done because he has a lot to hide, a lot that he doesn't want to answer for. What are the Fords hiding?

Monday, 28 March 2011

Harper rejects claims he was keen on forming coalition - thestar.comStephen Harper has been in denial of many things since he first became Prime Minister.Today he is in denial that he signed a document showing that he was keen on forming a coalition (and there is nothing wrong with coalition governments - they are totally legitimate and acceptable, many countries are governed by coalitions. Harper just wants you to think they are bad because if he gets another minority government, a coalition could take that away from him).He is also in denial today that his government fell because it was found in contempt of parliament.

Larry Hubich's Blog: Harper’s Hitlist: Power, Process and the Assault on Democracy - DobbinDobbin: “This study is intended to examine the most serious violations of democracy committed by the prime minister and his government. Some are clearly more serious than others. But taken as a whole they add up to a dangerous undermining of our democratic traditions, institutions and precedents – and politics. These violations are not accidental, they are not incidental, and they are not oversights or simply the sign of an impatient government or ‘decisive’ leadership. They are a fundamental part of Harper’s iron-fisted determination to remake Canada, whether Canadians like it or not.”Also:POLL: Environics, on behalf of the Council of Canadians, polled people about their feelings about proportional representation in February. Here are the results:

- 61% of Canadians support moving to a system of proportional representation in Parliament

- 36% said they were more supportive of proportional representation as a result of Prime Minister Harper’s recent prorogations

(These results represent the findings of a telephone survey conducted among a national random sample of 1,001 adults comprising 501 males and 500 females 18 years of age and older, living in Canada. The margin of error for a sample of this size is +/- 3.10%, 19 times out of 20.)

Thursday, 24 March 2011

Conservatives hold a tentative lead in polls, Nik Nanos | Oye! Times* As a voter priority, the economy has fallen to its lowest level since the recession began. With the economy the supposed strong topic for the Conservatives (though I don't know why the MSM feels it is - the Harper government has broken all records for economic MIS-management), this weakens their standing.* We care more about good government now than economic management* The majority agree that now is not a good time to buy the F-35 fighter jets (for a price tag of $16 to $30 billion)* A majority of Conservative voters oppose the acquisition of the F-35s* 75% of the undecided voters oppose the acquisition of the F-35s* Harris-Decima polling in the last months shows a slow but steady decline in the Conservative lead over the Liberals

Add to this the CARP polls showing seniors' support for the Conservatives plummeting, and it adds up to signs that their support may be about to fall out from under them. With these trends, they won't be getting a majority, let alone a minority.

During the month of February, support for Conservatives dropped 10 points.

Excerpt:There are two findings which do not bode well for the Conservatives. While the NDP is the second choice of one quarter of voters (26%), followed by the Green Party (14%) and the Liberals (13%), very few members make the Conservative party their second choice (8%). In addition, the proportion of undecided members in our latest poll is significantly lower than in the past. Taken together, these two findings indicate the Conservative party has now declined to its core base, and has very few options for gaining additional votes.

Democratic Progress: G&MI'm not a Liberal party supporter, but anyone should be able to see that the Grope & Fail intentionally posted (see the example at the link) a positive photo of Harper and Flaherty, and a very unflattering photo of Ignatieff together. MSM (Mainstream Media) does this all the time. And it does sway thousands, if not millions of gullible voters. Their choice of how they word the titles of articles and what they say in their "news" items also shows a lot of bias. But again, there are a lot of gullible people who are swayed by this. If you point this out to these people they often get very angry and deny they are being swayed, etc. etc.

“You’re not supposed to vote on issues where you’re going to directly financially benefit,” he said. “If the Ford family business is doing business with city hall, when those contracts come in front of council — or those interests — they should be declared.”[Adam Vaughan]

Requests for interviews sent to the mayor’s office, Doug Ford and Deco Labels were refused.

Tuesday, 22 March 2011

Breakdown of an Executive Committee Breakdown - TorontoistExcerpts: But I don’t think I have seen a less curious, less thoughtful, or less intellectually rigorous group outside of a church. No one cared about input from those who took the time to attend the meeting and express their views. This administration seems to believe that the "people" spoke last October 25, and all this is now just an annoying distraction from the work that has to be done. They couldn’t even muster the pretense of listening. Twice, as the meeting wound down, they had to stop after it was pointed out there wasn’t a quorum—seven committee members—present. During a discussion about how they were going to proceed with their core service review! The nuts and bolts of governing....This executive committee is the ugly manifestation of Ford Nation. Like a jilted lover, it has seized control, determined to prove its worth. It brooks no dissent and counters any disagreement or outside opinion with vitriol and contempt. Retribution, not reconciliation, is its agenda. This is the heart of an administration that has more interest in getting even than it does in governing.

I set out a clear message to him... focus on the priorities of middle class families or face an election.

I did this despite the fact that this is a government that we have not supported because I believe it is important to try to make parliament work - we owe it to Canadians.

I told the Prime Minister that in this recession middle class Canadians were working harder than ever before to make ends meet. Household debt is at an all time high and the costs of everyday essentials are going up.

After years of the well-connected and big business getting all the breaks – I believe it’s time families get a break.

I want to build a Canada where no senior lives in poverty.

A Canada where no family has to go without a doctor.

...where every Canadian can retire with security.

Clearly Mr. Harper doesn’t.

Mr. Harper had an opportunity to address the needs of the hard working middle class families – he missed this opportunity.

He just doesn’t get it.

And in the midst of mounting scandal, this government could have put political games aside and worked with other parties.

It could have achieved practical, affordable results that help families now—to show Canadians that Ottawa can work for them.

But Stephen Harper chose not to do this.

I called on him to create new doctors and nurses for the 5 million Canadians without access to family medicine.

Mr. Harper’s budget will not do that.

I called on him to help Canadians with ever rising energy bills – to remove the federal sales tax from home heating.

Mr. Harper’s budget will not do that.

Because a quarter of a million seniors live in poverty today – a national disgrace - I called on him to ensure no senior lives in poverty.

Mr. Harper’s budget will not do that.

Because every Canadian deserves to have access to a financially secure retirement – I called on him to set goals to increase benefits to the Canada Pension Plan.

Mr. Harper’s budget will not do that.

Nothing in this budget has persuaded me that Stephen Harper has changed his ways and is prepared to work with others in Parliament to give middle-class families a break.

Saturday, 19 March 2011

Business owners insulted by G20 compensation offers - thestar.comStevie was willing to waste our money on fake lakes and sidewalks in small towns, and on way too many cops and toys for them. But, when it comes to compensating businesses who greatly suffered due to damages and the closure of downtown Toronto, he insults them.

What shouldn’t be left to his discretion is whether to do his job as instructed by city council. In published comments Thursday, Ootes said it did not make sense for him to approve every invoice over $1,000 at the housing authority. It would take too much of his time.

But city council voted 22-21 last week to have the community housing board — now represented by the interim managing director — sign off on all such expenses. Ootes can’t expect to take the public’s money and then refuse to do the public’s bidding, through its elected representatives. He, of all people, should know better.

Ootes’s behavior shows that, even in Ford’s administration, there’s gravy to be had at Toronto City Hall. Yes, $25,000 is just a few drops compared to the heavily loaded “gravy train” that Ford expects to find. But people scooping even small amounts should, at least, do their job according to the dictates of city council.

That's why there needs to be a board of duly elected members, not just one person appointed by the Mayor. A board could handle the workload. Ford bypassed proper procedure to un-democratically dismantle a democratically elected board and replace it with one person. Now there is NO representation for the tenants, and the one person doesn't want to do his job as directed by our democratically elected city council.

Wednesday, 16 March 2011

Ultimately, though, we could argue back and forth about the necessity of a sniper at this protest for hours and never get to the real point: the police strongly overreacted to this protest, and with an unseemly amount of fear. Snipers are simply not a necessary security measure for anything other than the largest public protests, and even then their use is highly questionable. (Ultimately a sniper's basic purpose is to shoot at people from a great distance, and involving them in a public protest is an admission that you believe deadly force may well be necessary.) But this was not a large public protest. This was OCAP being the same damn pain in the ass they always are: mostly peaceful and mostly annoying, and meriting consideration of deadly force not in the slightest.

Many have said before that the true crime perpetrated by the G20 Integrated Security Unit was to intimidate and pre-criminalize the citizenry of Toronto as a whole. Even so, the events of the G20 were exceptional in many ways, and although police there reacted extremely badly to those exceptional events this could still be forgiven if it was clear that the tactics adopted for the G20 were seen as a mistake. However, if snipers are to become a constant presence at public protests, then the events of the G20 were not a terrible mistake. Instead, they were the introduction of a new norm, where protest is considered to be not only the source of likely criminal activity, but a source of criminal activity so dangerous that it requires the installation of lethal force at a distance. And that is unacceptable.

Friday, 11 March 2011

Ford is practising the same kind of thuggery in office as Harper - use whatever powers he can to circumvent democratic process, ignore the facts, and direct his followers in how to help him do those things.

Wednesday, 9 March 2011

Ford pushes for ‘fresh start’ at emergency TCHC meeting - The Globe and MailAs you know, Rob Ford, Toronto's new mayor, is trying to circumvent the democratic procedures in place around how the TCHC board members become members or are removed. He wants to appoint his lackey Case Ootes to rule the TCHC in place of the democratically elected board. He wants to tear it all down before a proper investigation happens to determine the facts.

So, when Ford claimed that the meeting was "democracy in process":

When Mr. Ford, during his opening speech, called the meeting “democracy in process,” the crowd burst out laughing.

The "crowd" in question was mainly TCHC tenants, concerned about what is happening with their board members.

What is MMP?

MMP stands for Mixed Member Proportional.

It is a new electoral system proposed for Ontario. If you are voting in the upcoming Ontario Provincial Election on Oct 10, 2007, There will be a referendum question asking if you want to keep the current system or change to use MMP.

With the proposed MMP in Ontario, you will vote for a local candidate and a party - it's that simple.

Then, when the votes are all tallied, if a party has proportionally less seats than the percentage of the overall vote they received, they get additional general party seats known as List seats. So, in the end, the number of seats a party has in parliament, is directly proportional to the percentage of votes they received.

Example: If party A received 40% of the vote, then they get 40% of the seats.